Aknar Koth'lyri
Born on Kothliss, the colony world of the Bothan home planet Bothawui, Aknar was born into a family of royal blood. His father, Count Tenalk Koth'lyri, was head of the clan Ilyri, holding much political power and prestige within the Bothan government. Count Tenalk, obsessed with politics, pushed his son into following in his own foot steps. However, this was not to be as Aknar disliked politics for all their corruption. He endured his father's persistent will until his coming of age. When this came to be, his father awarded him a fair percentage of the family's personal fortune and set him out on his own in the Bothan political arena, with hope of using his son's learned knowledge as a tool for his own gain. Alas, this was not to be as Aknar fled Kothlis to rid himself of the heavy burden upon his back and to seek out his own fortune. He traveled the galaxy for a few years during which only he knows what happened, until he turned up again in an Imperial prison. Caught smuggling weapons through customs on some forgotten world, he was to be sent to a penal colony until a rebel raiding party rescued him by chance. Eternally in debt to the Rebel Alliance, Aknar went back to Kothlis to visit his family. This, being a time of galactic turmoil, brought the Bothan spynet into full swing, and many of his family were away helping the Alliance. Aknar found his father to be deceased; caught by the Imperials and executed for treason while delivering information to the Alliance. Aknar took one half of his family's funds and left his home once again, but this time he set out with a purpose. During his wandering years, Aknar had aquired all sorts of knowledge and contacts. He knew of business, smuggling, piloting, and of course his childhood lessons in politics. Using his aquired contacts and family's wealth, Aknar made contact with the rebel cell that had rescued him. Aknar, using his family relations on Kothlis and Bothawui proper, formed his own cell within the Bothan Spynet which began immediately operating and gathering information to give to the Alliance. Out of the hatred of the Galactic Empire, Aknar did not feel this was enough to avenge his father's death. Using a portion of his inherited wealth, he invested in ships, weapons, and a base of operations. Seeking out a letter of marque from the Alliance, his group made raids on small Imperial convoys- capturing them- and then splitting the earnings with the Alliance. Aknar's exploits captured many small to medium Imperial cargo vessels, and every once in a while, would nab a warship. These ships, cargos, and most of all- their crews- proved to be valuable to the Alliance war effort of the cell that he was helping. During all of this time, Aknar kept a low profile and his group remained secret, like many privateer operations throughout the civil war. Finally, after the Battle of Endor, the needs for privateers grew less and less. The letter of marque from the Alliance expired and the privateering oversight agency of the Alliance fell to ruin in the hectic forming of the New Republic. The Galactic Empire was pushed back and there was little need for these roving bands of guerillas. Aknar Koth'lyri refused to give up this life, however, and remained an active part of the Bothan Spynet. His personel fortune, spent on the resources required to fund his personel fleet, had not shrunk but instead had grown due to his illegal activities that his group partook in during their time in service of the Alliance. Never having had any warm feeling about a political career, Aknar continued on gathering and selling information and smuggling. His pirating activities were laid to rest, however, as he realized that sometimes it proved to be more costly than profitable. He expanded his existing operations to make up for what little profits he did lose and he added a few new services to his billet. With these changes, he focused his efforts into turning his group into a fringe business catering to all types of fringe types. His offensive pirating ships were maintained for defensive purposes only. Aknar turned his base of operations, a large asteroid that had been hollowed out and converted into a space station, into a spaceport/ship servicing center. He used his many friends within the underworld to make his home base a center for black market trade. With the new upgrades to this base, many fringe types would bring their ships there for illegal upgrades and some would journey there to buy their first ships- although this small shipyard had a limited capacity for building and a limited selection- consisting of mainly a handfull of small freighters/fighters of various types, however, all the designs were all a bit aged. The young Count thrived in this post Imperial era, all the while maintaining a friendly relationship with the New Republic. Aknar occasionally provided them with vital bits of information that, when acted upon by the New Republic, turned out to be very useful. Because of this, New Republic Intelligence persuaded the proper people to turn their heads to Aknar's activities, thus ensuring his survival, if not his protection, from the law enforcement authorites. During the Death Star III campaign waged by the New Republic and Griffon Alliance, Koth'lyri's cell played a major part in the passive roles needed. The Death Star III active intelligence gathering information missions were the last acts of the outgoing Bothan Spynet chief. Nearing retirement age this previous Chief stepped down and was given a senatorial position instead, considered by many as a political promotion, however small. Aknar was tapped to become the newest Chief of the Bothan Spynet. Within several weeks Aknar closed shop on his fringe organization after he recognized the greater opportunities available to him with the new job offer. Aknar's many business contacts were kept fresh but his organization as a whole disbanded with many of his Lietenants buying off their sides of the business from Aknar and going their own way. As chief of the Bothan Spynet Aknar decided to do something that had never been done before. Through his political ties with the clan Ilyri and help with the allied clan of Alya, and [Vry'lya, Aknar merged a major part of the command structure with New Republic Intelligence thus majorly strengthening both organizations. Aknar Koth'lyri --Aknar 07:18, 8 Jan 2006 (UTC)